garage/ cooler find - GT350

Robin: I sell alot of projects and base the price on what a finished car might sell for.

Example: My friend Bill Collins has 2-3 Gt 350's for $175-190K.
These are high end cars and they will eventually find a home.

Suddenly my projects for $75-90K might not be too unreasonable.

Best,
Bret

 

Bill's asking price for the black GT350H is $140. This seems to be a very nice car.

 

The black one is similar to one I have.

Hertz/auto/wrong engine

His green one is very nice and came out of Arkansas.
The blue one is even nicer.

I wish I could afford them!

 

Regarding the VIN number: I don't understand why the Shelby VIN has to remain hush hush regarding this car. I understand the FORD VIN should clearly be kept under lock and key - especially with this car. I am a member of the K code registry site and many there work very hard to document all the K code VINs, especially those that appear to be headed toward a rebody. I think this is responsible, especially if this certain VIN numbered Shelby appears at BJ in 10 years, touting as clean rust-free low mileage original. In my opinion, the end value of this car will/should never be worth the upper tier, no matter how much is spent on the restoration (which will be plenty) or how nice it looks when it is done. I do agree that it should be saved, but only with full disclosure.

 

AMEN!! Troy

 

My bad, I thought it was a NE outside car that was smashed out the sides too.

 

Regarding Bill Collins Blue 66. Does anyone remember that car before it was restored? It was sold on ebay a few years ago and no one could hardly believe what it brought. Its good to know that someone appreciates these cars enough to bring them back to life no matter the cost. I'm sure it will never be sold at BJ without a picture of it before and after.

 

I think the blue car went through an expensive restoration after sitting discarded for years.

I'm thinking it came from PA originally.

It's very, very nice

Bret

 

66GTK.....Probably a good idea to keep the Shelby vin quiet until he has the car bought and at home. Then post pics and the Shelby vin. Then pics as it progresses.

 

65-66 registrar knows the vin/condition.

 

Thought you might enjoy before and after photos of 1175.

 

The car was in PA for many years It belonged to my friend one of our local SAAC club memers Lynn Keck son of Hal Keck who drove the Cobra. The car had been sitting a long time and needed a ton of work he had it for sale back in the mid 80's for $6000.00 and none of us bought the car it was that bad for that kind of money. The car was bought by a Mr brown in Emaus PA and storred in a warehouse till Bill Collins bought it.I was in the warehouse to pick up another Shelby for another friend on this site a 67 500 at the time these cars were being sold The car still looked the same as it did 20 years before. Bill did have the car for sale at Carlisle and I belive that is were it sold. Bill is also an active member of our local SAAC club.

Dominic

 

I am currently restoring an R-code 1968 Mustang (non-Shelby) convertible which was in similar condition to that one. Managed to save the engine compartment and trunk floor but everything in between was replaced.

I'm going to be blunt. I would NOT have restored this car except for its extreme rarity (one of 34 R-code 1968 convertibles). I got a great Mustang/Shelby restoration guy to do the body/paint at a cost of about $20K not including the TWO parts cars I bought. He did a fantastic job - so good that only a serious expert could tell how much work was done to it.

There is no doubt about one thing - 99% of the time it is cheaper to buy a done car instead of getting a project and doing it yourself. I made an exception in my case because I knew that I would never get an opportunity to own a car this rare.

In your case you are dealing with a fairly common car. I realize that statement seems a little absurd but if you get on the internet I'll bet there are at least 10 1966 Shelbys for sale at any given time. So there are a lot of them to choose from.

IMO serious project cars are one of the most expensive ways to get into the hobby. Definitely the most time consuming. People pay a premium for them because they think that they are getting into the hobby on the cheap but they are just fooling themselves. Sure there are guys who have restored this type of car and have less in it than it is worth but that's if you don't count the 2000 hours of labor.

The advice you have been given is very good about the seriousness of this project. Even if you are a gifted body/paint/upholsterer/engine rebuilder you are still going to be into this car for $40K. And then it is just going to be a very nice driver. If you aspire for a level higher than that figure $75K. It will NEVER be an upper echelon car because everyone knows what you started with. So forget about getting $200K for it when it is done - it is just not going to happen.

The other factor that are dealing with is that the market has softened in the last year for the "average" cars. Figure a 10-20% drop in value. The lesser cars have dropped even more. Nobody knows how much the market will sag in the future. It may be that your driver condition car will only be worth about $75K in a couple of years.

The other strike against you is your apparent lack of funds. This may stretch the project out so long that you eventually get discouraged and give up. Very common for a project of this magnitude.

Good luck.

 

I've seen a rebodied thoroughbred concours quality 65 Shelby sell for over $340K at an auction. Over $270K for another 65 Shelby driver quality. An early rebodied 66 Shelby for $150K about 2-3 years ago. Some (who don't know the real history) people will still buy a rebody for top dollar if the restoration is good.

 

I have an idea about the car you are talking about - I suspected it was mostly a "cut and paste (weld)" job, but only saw pix...was it the one with the reinforcements missing?
One of the responses in this thread asked why you had to use a San Jose' body - that is just the half of it if you are going to try to pull off a re-body.

Mike

 

Or might it be that some people will still pay top dollar if the restoration is good, not knowing they are purchasing a rebodied car.

Might be interesting to see how they feel AFTER they find out. I know I went to look at a 67 a while back that a "collector" (featured in Hot Rod magazine) purchased at auction only to find out it was a rebody. At the point I looked at the car he was dumping the car ... though he didn't mention anything about the "issues"

In any case how much an uninformed buyer is willing to pay for a car is misleading if they don't have all the facts in my book.

 

Here is a 64 dollar question..
why is a fully restored re-body worth so much more than a perfect fake?

And who is pulling who's leg?

 

Eljimbo, rebodies are built to replicate an exact original. Very very very few clones do the marque any justice. 99% of clones are very poorly done.

If a rebody has the original Shelby tag, driveline - I would purchase this over a clone anyday - if the price was the same.

Rohan